Death. For my own Part, as I have always had the Experience of the Smiles of Fortune, for Fear left the • Defire of living too long may make her frown upon me, • I am going, by a happy Period, to dismiss the Remains * of my Soul, leaving behind me two Daughters of my • Body, and a Legion of Grand-children.' Having faid this, and given some Exhortations to her Family to live in Peace and Union, divided her Estate amongst them, and recommended her eldest Daughter to the Protection of the domestic Gods; the boldly took the Cup in her Hand, in which was the Poison, and having made her Vows to Mercury, accompanied with Prayers that he would conduct her to fome happy Seat in the other World, she toffed off the mortal Beverage. She then entertained the Company with the Progress of its Operation; and as the Parts of her Body were feized with a Chilness, one after another, she told them, at length, it had reached her Heart and Bowels; and then called her Daughters to do the last Office for her, and to close her Eyes. Pliny tells us of a certain Hyperborean Country, where, The voluntary by reason of the mild Temperature of the Death of the Air, the Inhabitants rarely end their Lives Hyperbo but by the voluntary Surrender of them; inasmuch, that, when they are weary and fur-. feited with Life, 'tis usual for them, after they have lived to a good old Age, to make a sumptuous Feast, and then to throw themselves into the Sea, from a certain Rock destined to that Service. Pain, and the Fear of a worfe Death, seem to me to be the most excusable Induce-, ments *. reans. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. iv. c. 12. CHAP. 43 CHAP. IV. To-morrow is a New Day. the Language of Amiot, the Translator of Plutarch. 0 F all our French Writers, James Amiot, in my Opinion, deserves the Palm", not only for the Propriety and Purity of his Language, in which An Elogium on he furpasses all others; nor for his constant Perseverance in so long a Labour; nor for the Depth of his Knowledge, having so happily unravelled the Intricacies of so difficult an Author; (for People may say what they please, though I understand nothing of Greek, yet I perceive a Sense so well connected and maintained throughout his whole Translation, that surely he must have perfectly known the Author's true Thoughts, or, by being long conversant with him, must have had a general Idea of Plutarch's Mind strongly imprinted in his Soul, forasmuch as he has delivered us nothing from him that in the leaft derogates from, or contradicts him) but, above all, I am pleased with him for having singled out a Book so proper, so worthy for a Present to his Country. We Dunces had been funk in the Mire, had not this Book lifted us out of it. By this Favour of his we venture now both to speak and write. The very Ladies read it to the School-masters. 'Tis our Breviary. If this good Man be yet living, I would recommend him to do as much by Xenophon. 'Tis a more easy Task than the other, and therefore more proper for a Gentleman so far advanced in Years. And then I know not how it is, but methinks, though he very brifkly and clearly recovers himself when he has made a Trip, yet his Stile is more his own, when it is not embarrassed, and runs smoothly on. I was just now reading that Passage in Plutarch, where he says of himself, that Rufticus, while present Curiofity greedy at a Declamation of his at Rome, received a after News. Pacquet > To this, I think, should be added, that Amiot, by his Tranflation of Plutarch, has not only polished, but even inriched our Language, • In the Treatife of Curiofity, ch. 14. Amiot's Tranflation. Pacquet from the Emperor, but delayed to open it till In our Fathers Days, M. de Boutieres had like to have The reading of Letters ought not to be de ferred. that was plotted against the faid City, of which he was Governor. And this very Plutarch has given us to understand, that Julius Cæfar had faved himself, if he had read a Paper that was presented to him as he went to the Senate, on that very Day he was killed by the Conspirators. He also tells the Story of Archias, the Tyrant of Thebes, that, the Night before Pelopidas put his Plot In the Life of Julius Cefar, c. 17. 1 Plot into Execution for killing him in order to restore his Country's Liberty, he had a circumstantial Account of the whole Conspiracy sent him in Writing by another Archias, an Athenian, and that, the Pacquet having been delivered to him while he sat at Supper, he deferred the Opening of it, saying, what afterwards turned to a Proverb in Greece, To-morrow is a New Day. A wife Man may, in my Opinion, for the Sake of another Person, either for Fear, like Rufticus, of indecently disturbing the Company, or of breaking off another Affair of Importance, put off the reading or hearing any new Thing that is brought to him, but if a Man, for his own particular Interest or Pleasure, even though he holds a public Office, will not interrupt his Dinner, nor be awaked out of his Nap, he is inexcusable. And there was anciently, at Rome, the Confular Place, which they called the most honourable, at The Confular Table, for being a Seat which had most Place at Table Scope, and was of the easieft Access to those the most acceffi who came to speak with him who was placed ble. in it; which is a Proof that though they were at Table they did not abandon the Concern for other Affairs and Incidents. But, when all is said that can be said, 'tis very difficult, in human Actions, to prescribe so just a Rule, by rational Arguments, that Fortune will not maintain her Right in them. CHAP. V. Of CONSCIENCE. S I was travelling one Day, during the Civil Wars, A with my Brother the Sieur de la Brouffe, we met a Gentleman of good Fashion, who was of the Of the Power contrary Party to us, though I knew nothing of Confcience. of it, for he pretended to be of ours: And the Mischief on't is, that, in Wars of this Sort, the Cards are so shuffled, your Enemy not being diftinguished from yourself by any apparent Mark, either of Language or Carriage, being • In his Treatife of Socrates's Dæmon, ch. 27. : being bred up under the same Laws, Air, and Manners, that 'tis difficult to avoid Disorder and Confufion. This made me afraid, myself, of meeting with any of our Troops in a Place where I was not known, that I might not be forced to tell my Name, and for Fear of fomething worse, perhaps, as happened to me once, when, by by such a Mistake, I lost both Men and Horses; and, amongst others, an Italian, my Page, whom I had bred up with Care, was miferably killed, a fine Lad, and one that was very promising. But the Gentleman we met had so strange a Terror upon him, and was so mortified at the meeting with any Horse-men, and travelling through Towns which held out for the King, that I, at length, guessed he was alarmed by his Confcience. The poor Man seemed to be in such a Condition, that, through his Vizor, and the Crosses on his Cassock, one might have penetrated into his Bofom, and read his fecret Intentions. So wonderful is the Force of Confcience, that it makes us betray, accuse, and fight with ourselves; and, for Want of other Evidence, to give Testimony against ourselves: Occultum quatiens animo tortore flagellum. i. e. Conscience, the Soul's Tormentor, does, unseen, The Tale that follows is in the Mouths of Children: Bessus, a Peonian, being reproached with having wantonly pulled down a Sparrow's Neft, and killed the young ones, faid he had Reason for it, because those little Birds Strange Disco- were continually chattering a Falfhood, that very of a Par- he had murder'd his Father. This Parricide had, till then, been undiscovered and unknown, but the revengeful Furies of his Confcience caused it to be discovered by himself, who was justly to fuffer for it. ricide. Juv. Sat. xiii. v. 195. Hefiod • See Plutarch's Treatise, Why the Divine Justice Sometimes defers the Pu nifoment of Crimes, ch. 8. |